Archive for the 'Matt Beleskey' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Matt Beleskey will return to the Ducks for the next season and potentially beyond after signing a two-year contract extention Sunday worth $2.7 million.

Beleskey, 25, was a restricted free agent and had arbitration eligibility but will go nowhere near that occasionally contentious process. He'll make $1.3 million in the coming season and $1.4 million in 2014-15.

"I couldn’t be happier to stay in Anaheim," Beleskey said. "I never wanted to play anywhere else, that’s for sure. Talking to the coaches and talking to [General Manager] Bob Murray and Dave McNab, they've liked how I've progressed.

"They definitely let me know that it’s not over here and thre’s a lot more work to be done. I’m excited with where I am now and I’m still looking forward to the future."

A rugged left wing who was at home on the fourth line but occasionally moved up in the lineup, Beleskey could have had career numbers had their been a full 2012-13 season.

Kyle Palmieri and Matt Beleskey were among the four players the Ducks issued qualified offers to by Tuesday's NHL deadline in order to keep their negotiating rights.

Qualifying offers needed to be tendered to impending restricted free agents or those players earn unrestricted status and can sign with any team.

Both offers are a five percent raise from their NHL salaries in 2012-13, as stipulated in the college bargaining agreement. The Ducks will continue to negotiate with the two with Beleskey holding arbitration rights while Palmieri does not.

Palmieri, 22, had 10 goals, 11 assists and a minus-8 rating in 42 games as he became an everyday presence in the Ducks' lineup for the first time. His base NHL salary was a pro-rated $810,000 last season.

The Ducks don't need to be in a real rush with Palmieri as veteran Saku Koivu is on their front burner right now. No deal has been struck with Koivu, though General Manager Bob Murray said the sides are still working out issues and remain confident that an extension will get done.

He's certainly no star and he plays a position that some would deem easily replaceable on a roster but Matt Beleskey at last has found some solid ground.

Put on waivers right before the Ducks would make the switch behind the bench from Randy Carlyle to Bruce Boudreau two winters ago, Beleskey has remained right in Anaheim and will be there in the foreseeable future with a new contract in his hand.

The Ducks thought so much of Beleskey's growth over the past year that they gave a nice pay bump to $1.3 million this coming season and added another year for $1.4 million for the winger, who was a restricted free agent for all of two days.

Now the winger is set on showing that he can be more than a 10-minute plugger on the fourth line -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

"I've always tried to be a power forward and want to be a physical presence with our team," Beleskey said recently. "Try and lead our team that way and get them going. I think I can score goals in the NHL.

Ben Lovejoy played his way up from the extra defenseman role when he was first acquired and it is no wonder that the Ducks are trying to keep him around.

The Ducks and Lovejoy continue to discuss a contract extension after the blue-liner made a strong impression in becoming one of the Coach Bruce Boudreau's more trusted players over his four-month stint with the club.

Lovejoy's agent, Robert Murray, confirmed in an e-mail to the Register that he and the Ducks "have had ongoing discussions" but wouldn't not elaborate any further on the talks. Lovejoy made the league-minimum of $525,000 last season, which was pro-rated because of the NHL lockout.

Ducks GM Bob Murray, who is of no relation to Lovejoy's representative, readily acknowledged at the team's exit meetings that he wants to extend the defenseman. Lovejoy is slated to become an unrestricted free agent.

There is no question that Lovejoy will get a nice raise -- perhaps a significant one -- after contributing 10 assists and a plus-6 rating in 32 regular-season games with the Ducks while averaging 17 minutes, 49 seconds of ice time.

DETROIT -- Corey Perry scored his first goal since opening night and Andrew Cogliano and Bobby Ryan tallied 48 seconds apart in the third period to give the Ducks a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks (10-2-1) have won three in a row and seven of eight to improve to 4-1 on a six-game sojourn that ends Saturday night in Nashville. It is their longest trip of the season.

Viktor Fasth made 26 saves to improved to 7-0 in his brief NHL career. Cogliano added a second goal into the empty net as the Ducks snapped a streak of eight consecutive losses at Joe Louis Arena dating to 2008.

Cogliano tied a career best with a goal in his third consecutive game as he snapped a 2-2 tie with a nice redirect of Saku Koivu's pass on a give-and-go play in the Red Wings' zone.

Ryan made it a two-goal game when he took the puck away from Detroit defenseman Ian White and then buried his own rebound past Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard after Teemu Selanne got him the puck for a one-timer.

It is all that will be reflected for the Ducks in the NHL standings after their 3-2 shootout loss to San Jose on Tuesday night. Five games into a season shortened to 48 because of a lockout, it may not seem to make much of a difference.

But if one looks beyond the black and white, the Ducks can turn that defeat into something much more.

A blueprint for success might have been found even if a fourth straight win at HP Pavilion that seemed in the cards evaporated in the final minutes of regulation.

The Ducks played with passion from start to finish against an undefeated San Jose outfit that had won its previous five games by two goals or more and outscored opponents by a 23-8 count.

Puzzled by the events of a bizarre day in the contentious labor battle between NHL owners and players, Ducks winger Dan Winnik didn't want to wait and read about why the league rejected the latest proposal put forth by his union.

As NHL commissioner Gary Bettman steamed in ticking off the reasons why a deal wasn't reached to end the lockout, Winnik and other players slipped into the back of conference room full of reporters at a New York City hotel to hear it directly from the source.

In short, Winnik was taken aback at the assertion from the Bettman that the players' association doesn't want to reach an accord.

“They asked us to address their three main issues,” said Winnik, who's been part of the NHLPA's negotiating committee from the beginning. “And that's what we thought we were doing today. We didn't know by us not completely agreeing to what they want was that's it.

Matt Beleskey became the third Ducks player to head overseas for some competitive hockey during the NHL lockout as he'll play in England for the Coventry Blaze of the 10-team Rapid Solicitors Elite League.

Beleskey is the third NHL player in the Elite League as he joins Carolina's Anthony Stewart of the Nottingham Panthers and Detroit's Drew Miller of the Braehead Clan.

Defenseman Luca Sbisa and goaltender Viktor Fasth are already playing across the water.

Sbisa has played in six games with HC Lugano of the Swiss National League A, compiling one assist and a minus-3 rating. Fasth has a 2.17 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in six games with Tingsryd of Sweden's HockeyAllsvenskan.

Seemingly not a fixture in their long-term plans after a poor sophomore season in 2010-11, Matt Beleskey had thought his time with the Ducks might have really ended once he was put on waivers back in November.

His outlook with the franchise over the distance may not be all that secure going forward but Beleskey was able to re-establish himself as an NHL player last season. All it took was a coaching change.

"It's a new opportunity," Beleskey said back in late December after he responded under Bruce Boudreau. "I've just got to try to take advantage of it. Bruce has been pretty vocal with me. He's let me know what he's looking for and what he wants to see from me.

"He's rewarded me when I've done those things and when I haven't, I haven't been rewarded. It's pretty straightforward with what I need to do. It's something I've just got to keep working on."